Biography
Unicorn Hard-On serves as the solo identity of Valerie Martino, a longtime participant in America’s D.I.Y. underground who helped fuse noise and techno into a single approach. Hailing from Providence, Rhode Island, she joined that city’s noise community alongside figures such as Ren Schofield, who later performed as Container, and soon carried her turbulent, rhythm-centered sets into basements and modest clubs across numerous college towns nationwide. A steady stream of cassettes, CD-Rs, and a split 7" alongside Taiwan Deth surfaced while Martino relocated repeatedly—passing through Los Angeles, Nashville, and Philadelphia—and continued sharpening her singular approach. In 2011 she issued a split 12" EP with Container via Hot Releases/More Records. At that point a number of American noise practitioners had shifted toward techno, as Carlos Giffoni, Prurient, and various members of Wolf Eyes began issuing more beat-oriented material or related projects, yet Martino’s luminous, buoyant sound remained entirely distinct. Her much-anticipated first full-length appeared in 2013 when John Elliott (Emeralds, Outer Space, Mist) presented Unicorn Hard-On’s Weird Universe on Spectrum Spools. Three years afterward the German imprint Untergang-Institut released the project’s concluding album, Dream Machine.
Albums
